


Ten and One

by alianora



Category: Firefly
Genre: Riverspeak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-11
Updated: 2010-01-11
Packaged: 2017-10-06 03:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alianora/pseuds/alianora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several ways to get away with murder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten and One

She was sneaky. Suspicious. Supercilious.

Serpentine.

She was clever and quiet, and could hide in places other people would never think to look.

And all because she was cute and crazy and creative.

\----------

Simon was the first. The easiest. But he was also very clever/creative/crafty and knew her tricks.

He should. She always played pranks on him.

So, he rolled his eyes when she short sheeted his bed, and made her clean up the syrup she spread on the door handles.

But he never suspected the sneak attack.

He went down with thump, and stayed there when her web tightened around him.

She giggled.

\----------

Jayne was second. He was the biggest. The brawniest. The bloodiest.

Besides her.

He was hard to trap, for all his brain moved slower than honey. His head was hollow, but his senses were sharp. Tack like. Tactile.

He was suspicious, smirking, lurking about, but she would bring him down.

She filled his belly with beads and shells, and he fell asleep with his boots still on.

She grinned.

\---------

Zoe was third, even though she was second. Had to go through second to get to first.

Their positions are reversed, converse, perverse.

So, she got Wash and Zoe at the same time.

Three, four, lock the door and sneak away and ignore the silences.

She glanced behind.

\-------

Kaylee, fifth and fifth position. Turn out and turnabout and turbines.

Turning and turning and pirouettes and all en pointe.

Dancing is a lovely pastime, but Kaylee never learned the steps.

Kaylee fell, all pink and lace and ruffles.

She glided past.

\--------

Then the Shepherd, the sixth sheep herder, the sheepish hair man.

He smiled when he saw her, but she ran away

Among them, hiding. Herding, hiding, hidden away from sins and saints alike. Alive.

His hair is contained, covered, contaminated.

She glared.

\-------

Seven and seven is never eleven.

Inara knows but doesn't tell, how to make a wishing well.

Inara makes wishes come true and tosses her coins, but the well runs dry and the lovely lady's dress is damp and damaged.

Out, out, damned spot.

She grimaced.

\--------

Eighth and eager is Mal and Captain. Or Sargent or daddy or son or none.

Alone now, like he was before, when the angels ran away and left him standing. Branding. Brandishing brown.

He wraps it around him like armor, but it's riddled/joked/teasingly full of holes.

She guffawed.

\-------

Serenity falls, is falling, has fallen like London Bridge, with children playing and dancing and holding hands.

She is Serenity and Serenity is slipping through the cracks. The traps. The tricks.

She doesn't know where to go, whether thither or yon, and so she closed her eyes and pointed.

She miscounted. She should be nine, and tricks are to be played on all.

Her time, her trouble came, with lace and ruffles and dresses and coats.

She groaned.

END

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Ten and One [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3613596) by [tinypinkmouse_podfic (tinypinkmouse)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinypinkmouse/pseuds/tinypinkmouse_podfic)




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